


H.R.H.

by iLurked



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Merlicity BroTP, The Royals AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 14:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9329867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iLurked/pseuds/iLurked
Summary: His Royal Highness Prince Thomas Arthur Dearden should be happy, overjoyed even, at the news that his elder brother, Oliver Jonas Dearden, was finally coming home after five years of being presumed dead. The frown lines on the forehead of His Royal Highness, however, indicated that things were anything but happy.Protection Officer Felicity Smoak was on the case.(Inspired by E Channel's The Royals)





	

Most people don't know how truly gross their Playboy Prince, former heir apparent, now just plain Prince Thomas Arthur Dearden of the United Kingdom of America, was capable of being.

Case in point, he was currently going over his trash bin trying to see if the liquor bottles he had thrown away the night prior still contained alcohol he could drink.

The euphoria of finally seeing his elder brother, Prince Oliver Jonas Dearden, hearty and hale after five years of thinking him dead had all but faded.

Reality began to set in.

Tommy did not want to be asked why he was in such a sorry state when the whole palace, nay, the whole kingdom was in merriment. He did not want to pretend to be happy when he was all but dying inside.

Thus, after drinking all the alcohol in his room the night before and in dire need for another alcohol fix the moment he had opened his eyes that morning, he thought it was a better idea, made in all his drunken and hungover glory, to raid the trash rather than venture out of his room and brave the wine cellar.

No such luck, however. Grabbing the two bottles of whiskey nearest him, Tommy strode back to his bed and tilted one bottle, desperate to get the last drop.

There was a perfunctory knock before his doors were thrown wide open.

“Your highness,” an unexpected, but not wholly unwelcome, voice broke Tommy's reverie. “Is this a private pity party or could anyone join in?”

Tommy bit back the automatic curse at whomever dared to invade his sanctuary when he saw his favorite person standing just outside his room.

Felicity Smoak, as always, was a pop of bright color that the strict dress code imposed on the palace employees could not curtail, even if it was just the shade of her lipstick.

The daughter of a palace chambermaid and a protection officer, Felicity had been roaming the halls of the palace as soon as she could toddle. Years ago, she and Thea, only a couple of years apart in age, were often seen running and playing around the throne room, their giggles echoing against its walls.

Felicity, however, left just after she turned eighteen, dreaming to be more than what her parents, her grandparents, and her parent's grandparents were: servants to the monarchy. Not content to just leave the palace, Felicity left the country and travelled across the Pacific where she obtained a degree and two masters. She worked abroad in a tech company for a while, but returned after a broken heart reminded her that there was no place like home.

Which was lucky for Tommy because even as Felicity was Thea's playmate, the tiny slip of a blonde was Tommy's secret keeper. It began when twelve-year old Tommy crashed his laptop downloading something he should not have been downloading. Felicity, who had been studying right next to Tommy as the disaster unfolded, offered a quick, discreet, and effective fix. They had been friends and confidantes ever since.

Just the sight of her, his one true friend within the castle walls, lifted Tommy's spirits. Just a small bit. For a little while.

After their customary hug, Tommy held Felicity at arm's length and scrutinized his friend. He noted her tired eyes, her askew glasses, her blonde hair escaping from her high ponytail, her smudged lipstick, and her wrinkled clothes, when she was normally so fastidious.

“Did you come here straight from the airport?” He asked her, tone accusing.

“Yes.” She shuddered as she stepped out of her heels. “Let me tell you, it was twelve hours of hell with four insane connecting flights.”

“And why are you here instead of in your room, resting? Oliver's press conference to finally announce his resurrection to the whole world isn't until two this afternoon.”

“Because my best friend needs me.” She pinched Tommy's cheeks, the only one who could get away from doing that save for Thea. “Apparently, he could not function like a regular human being without yours truly.”

“How did you know that I'm here in my room brooding?” He asked suspiciously.

“I know everything.” Felicity replied mysteriously, which only reminded Tommy of the cameras installed all throughout the palace for the protection of its inhabitants. “Except the reason for those frowny lines on your forehead.”

“Not in the mood to share?” Felicity asked when Tommy didn't answer her unspoken question. “Let me guess, you have been the presumptive heir apparent for almost five years, Tommy, and not once have you shown the slightest sign that you actually wanted to be king. Now that your brother's back, you decide to want it after all?”

“It's not that.” Tommy paused. Reflected. Modified. "It's not just that."

“Then what else is there? Tommy, the last time we Skyped, you were ecstatic that Oliver's finally coming home. Today, you find your favorite person in the whole entire world,” she paused to indicate to herself. “Outside your bedroom, but you still look like, well, that. So, what up, your royal highness?”

“You know I hate it when you call me that.”

Felicity raised an eyebrow, knowing that her friend was stalling.

“Laurel's ex is back.” Tommy finally admitted.

“Ah. Laurel Lance, barrister extraordinaire.” Felicity moved to sit on Tommy's bed, then patted the space beside her. “I should have known. No one else could put those wrinkly lines on your forehead like Miss Lance does.”

Tommy accepted the invitation to sit beside Felicity, never mind that they were in _his_ room, therefore _his_ bed, and that he was, as of the moment at least, the heir apparent of the kingdom.

“Laurel's ex is back and he may or may not want her back.”

“First of all, have you so little trust on Laurel that you would think that she would run back to her ex the minute he beckons a finger?”

Tommy merely shrugged.

“And second, since when did you suffer from low self-esteem, Tommy? You're a rich, charismatic, fun dude with the cutest pair of dimples this side of the Atlantic who,” Felicity took a deep breath and grimaced. “Smell really, really good. Usually. When you're not drowning your sorrows in alcohol. Plus, from certain angles, and if you make an effort, you look downright stunning.”

“From certain angles.” Tommy snorted.

“Not to mention, you're...a...fuckin'...prince.” Felicity's fingers drilled Tommy's chest to emphasize each word. “I don't know why you're so worried that Laurel's going to throw you over for her ex.”

“A prince with questionable parentage.” Tommy pointed out.

“What?” Felicity's brow furrowed before the she got the reference. “Oh, yeah, the rumors that you and Thea were not fathered by King Robert. Isabel Rochev should be thankful she's safe behind prison bars otherwise I'd be tempted to run her over with a van after leaking those rumors to the paps.”

Not that those rumors were baseless.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the two-faced Lord Chamberlain Malcolm Merlyn had been scheming for the longest time to put his progeny on the throne. Taking advantage of King Robert's philandering ways, Merlyn began laying down clues of the king's unfaithfulness for his wife, Queen Moira, to find. And at the Queen's weakest moment, when the extra-marital affairs could no longer be denied even by the mind who was the most in denial, Merlyn swooped in like a white knight, offering the Queen a shoulder to cry on. And that led to things that Tommy would rather not think about. The affair between the Queen Moira and Merlyn continued for several years, making Tommy's and Thea's paternal parentage suspect, at best.

As a final piece of Merlyn's insane and convoluted plan, he somehow orchestrated the death of King Robert and Prince Oliver by rigging the yacht bringing them for state visits around Asia to sink.

The plan would have succeeded except, three years ago, someone started blackmailing the Queen about the parentage of the remaining heirs to the throne. (And of course, a couple of weeks ago when Prince Oliver triumphantly, but surreptitiously, returned home.)

Merlyn brought in technological genius Felicity to smoke out (pun not intended) the blackmailer, who turned out to be Isabel Rochev. No one knew how Isabel had gotten hold of the information. All they knew was that Isabel had been among King Robert's lovers. Perhaps the king had his own suspicions that Queen Moira was also guilty of infidelity, a suspicion that he had shared with his mistress.

The reminder of his fucked-up life depressed Tommy further.

“You know I hate it when you make that face. Okay, what would make you feel better? You want me to mess the ex up a bit?” Felicity offered, not wholly kidding. “And by that, I mean mess around with his identity and online credit, that sort of stuff, so that he'll be too busy fixing his life to be messing around with Gorgeous Laurel's head?”

“You can't.” Tommy replied. “He's untouchable.”

“Oh, Tommy, you honestly wound me.” Felicity grabbed her chest in mock hurt before wriggling her fingers. “No one is untouchable by these magic fingers. Well, you know what I mean.”

“Laurel and her ex didn't exactly breakup. He died,” Tommy swallowed thickly. “Then he undied. He was found in an uninhabited island alive, albeit a little bit roughed up.”

“Oh, shit.” Felicity's eyes widened. 

It was typical of the efficient Felicity Smoak to accurately and succinctly summarize the situation.

“Hey.” And as if the duo summoned the object of their conversation, His Royal Highness Oliver Jonas Dearden stood just outside the doors that Felicity neglected to close.

Tommy couldn't help but compare the Oliver who had set foot on the Queen's Gambit to the Oliver who stood before him today.

Aside from ditching the unfortunate hair choice of five years ago, Oliver came back looking like he was fitter and stronger looking than before. Tommy was surprised because he expected to see his brother emancipated and malnourished. Instead, Oliver looked like he ate nothing but rocks on the island he had been marooned at.

More than the physical change, Oliver was also quieter now, more introspective. The usual things that made him laugh from before didn't even merit a smile now. Not that Tommy ever saw Oliver smile since he had been rescued from the island.

Despite the circumstances, despite Tommy's issues and feelings, he truly, genuinely loved his brother. He mourned and missed Oliver during the five years his brother was lost. He was overjoyed that the brother he thought lost forever had returned to him, to his family, and to the kingdom.

“Hey.” Tommy returned his brother's greeting.

Beside Tommy, Felicity stood up and curtsied.

“Felicity?” Oliver tilted his head in surprise.

Tommy would not have seen it had he not been looking closely at his brother, but there was something about Oliver that changed. It was just a movement of the lips and a slight lighting up of his eyes.

It must have been Tommy's imagination, though, because when he blinked, it was once again Oliver 2.0 who was standing before Tommy.

“Diggle just caught me up on what I had missed during the time I was away.” Oliver told Tommy. “I missed a lot, huh?”

“Yeah.” Tommy nodded.

Including, but not limited to, the Merlyn catastrophe which ended up in a positive note, namely, that Felicity went back to the country to work full time.

After Felicity discovered the blackmailer's identity, Merlyn attempted to kill Isabel and Felicity because no one could know his and Queen Moira's secret. Fortunately, Felicity confided her suspicions to Protection Agent John Diggle, who was Prince Oliver's former bodyguard. Sharper than anyone gave him credit for, Diggle saved both Felicity and Isabel, at the expense of Merlyn's life.

This lead to Diggle's promotion as head of castle security. One of his first acts as such was to officially appoint Felicity as a consultant, after she declined a more permanent position as a protection agent, admitting that she already _worked for the government_ , a job which involved often going out of the country doing God knows what. (Tommy tried asking what her job actually was, but she just gave him Sad Eyes, telling him not to ask if he did not want her to lie to him.)

Now, the only people who knew the secret suspicions that surrounded Tommy and Thea's parentage, previously known only to Queen Moira and former Lord Chamberlain Malcolm Merlyn, now shared by Tommy, Thea, Diggle, Felicity, and, now, Oliver. While Isabel Rochev occasionally rattled her prison bars to threaten to spill her suspicions, the palace merely waved away her declarations as statements made by a woman scorned.

“I just wanted to assure you that there's no question for me that you and Thea are dad's children.” He told him. “Whatever happens, you're my brother and sister. Nothing could change that, not even a DNA test.”

“Thanks.” Tommy tried to convey his love and his gratefulness with that single word. He walked over to Oliver and the brothers hugged.

When they broke apart, Oliver moved to leave with a warm pat on Tommy's back but changed his mind at the last minute.

“The hell with it.” Oliver walked into Tommy's bedroom, as if he owned the place.

“What?” Tommy frowned, confused.

Oliver ignored Tommy, his eyes only for the bespectacled girl seated on the bed. “I didn't know you're already here. It's good to know you made it back safely.”

To Tommy's shock (but he would later realize that it was not such a surprise, really), Oliver bent down and gave Felicity a kiss. Not the kind of kiss that Tommy usually gave the computer prodigy, that is, a chaste one on the cheeks or a quick smack on the lips, but a full on, heavy kiss with tongue that made Tommy feel like a dirty voyeur.

A kiss that left Felicity blinking dreamily and Oliver smiling goofily before the future king left with a softly uttered, “See you later.”

“So, was he the reason you left the country recently? Were you part of the team that rescued him from the island?” Tommy pressed the minute Oliver was out of earshot.

Felicity, still caught in a daze wholly caused by Oliver Jonas Dearden, sighed and shook her head. “It's more than that. Our paths keep crossing even before he finally decided to come home.”

“I knew it!” Tommy exclaimed. “I knew there was something about the two of you even when we were teenagers! And what do you mean your paths keep crossing? Does that mean he wasn't on the island the whole time he was missing? And you! Are you MI5 or MI6? FBI or CIA? What exactly do you do? As your boss and your prince, I demand answers!”

Felicity shook off the daze and glared at Tommy. “You know I could tell you, but I would have to kill you.”

“Sometimes, I hate you, Smoak.”

“No, you don't.” She replied, bopping her friend's nose. “You love me. And you also have me to thank for clearing up your Laurel problem because I have it on good authority that Lauriver?” She used the name the paps gave Oliver and Laurel all those years ago when they were still dating. “Not gonna happen again. Ever.”

With a giggle and a twirl, Felicity donned her discarded heels before gliding out of Tommy's room, perhaps to search for a closet she could hide in with Oliver.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. *waves shyly* I hope you liked.
> 
> I didn't want to begin anything when I still have a couple of WIPs I haven't updated in almost a year, but the muse wants what it wants. I haven't abandoned the other stories yet but I may be writing a few other one-shots before I get back to them. 
> 
> I apologize and please have more patience with me. Thank you.


End file.
